The set-up of the story is in Camp Marc Lee, Ramadi, in Iraqi. Babin, the narrator for this chapter, presents us with a flashback of their experiences during their fight with the insurgent. This comes at a time when their troops are preparing to leave. He then highlights instances of some of their guys getting wounded, such as Mike Monsoor, who lost his life in the battle. In a different scenario, Babin reveals to us how he noticed the negative changing attitude of some soldiers, and concludes that it was a failure on his part, as a leader, for not explaining to them effectively and with clarity. He concludes that he would have put together a routine strategic overview brief and regularly deliver the same to the platoon operators so that they could understand the mission to be accomplished, furthering the strategic goals of stabilizing Ramadi and securing the populace. This is the ideal process of leading down the chain. Leading up the chain requires one to tactfully engage with the immediate boss or higher HQ in order to obtain decision and support necessary for the team to accomplish its mission and ultimately win.

As a corporate entity, businesses have a number of managers operating from top management directors, senior managers, field managers, etc. Management, therefore, needs to come up with a more effective line of communications that will enable efficient flow of information in order to achieve success. Field managers should be made aware of all that is happening in the HQ, and they should be able to feed forward effectively.